Evaluation and validation of an automatic jaw movement recorder (RumiWatch) for ingestive and rumination behaviors of dairy cows during grazing and supplementation

Abstract

Observation of ingestive and rumination behaviors of dairy cows may assist in detecting diseases, controlling reproductive status, and estimating intake. However, direct observation of cows on pasture is time consuming and can be difficult to realize. Consequently, different systems have been developed to automatically record behavioral characteristics; among them is the RumiWatch System (RWS; Itin and Hoch GmbH, Liestal, Switzerland). Until now, the RWS has not been thoroughly validated under grazing conditions. The aim of the current study was to validate the RWS, against direct observation, in measuring ingestive and rumination behaviors of dairy cows during grazing and supplementation in the barn. A further objective was to examine whether it is possible to refine the algorithm used by the evaluation software RumiWatch Converter 0.7.3.2 to improve the accuracy of the RWS. The data were collected from an experiment carried out with 18 lactating Holstein cows in a crossover block design including 3 treatments and 3 measuring periods. All cows grazed night and day, 19 h/d, and were either unsupplemented or supplemented, with chopped whole-plant corn silage, or chopped whole-plant corn silage mixed with a protein concentrate. During the measuring periods, cows were equipped with the RumiWatch Halter, and their ingestive and rumination behaviors were recorded concurrently by the RumiWatch Halter and by direct observation (690 × 10 min). Comparison of concurrently measured data shows that the RWS detected jaw movements reliably, but classification errors occurred. A low relative prediction error of ≤0.10 for the number of rumination boluses, rumination chews, and total eating chews was found. A high relative prediction error of >0.10 was found for the number of prehension bites and time spent in prehension and eating. Both converter versions performed equally well in differentiating ingestive and rumination behaviors when cows were supplemented in the barn or when grazing and supplementation activities were combined. For grazing cows, with no supplementation, more reliable results for the total number of eating chews, rumination chews, prehension bites, and time spent in these activities were obtained, by using the RumiWatch Converter 0.7.3.11. In light of these findings, further research is warranted to improve the accuracy of the RWS and to allow a differentiation between mastication chews and prehension bites while eating.

Amazing Grazing: A Public and Private Partnership to Stimulate Grazing Practices in Intensive Dairy Systems

“…Pasture measurement tools and decision-support systems for grazing management provide opportunities to optimize pasture and grazing management [40]. To our knowledge, there are no examples of on-farm implementation of daily grass intake tracking, in the Netherlands or abroad, although the use of behavioral data to predict intake is receiving increasing interest [41][42][43][44]. The use of grass growth prediction models in decision support systems was studied more widely, especially in more grazing-oriented countries like Ireland [45,46] and New Zealand [47,48].…”

Physiological and behavioural responses of grazing dairy cows to an acute metabolic challenge

“…To record and evaluate their ingestive and rumination behaviour and physical activity, cows were equipped with RumiWatch halters (version 6.0) and pedometers (Itin + Hoch GmbH, Fütterungstechnik, Liestal, Switzerland) as specified in Rombach, Münger, Niederhäuser, Südekum, and Schori (2018) and Alsaaod et al (2015). Data were converted with the RumiWatch Converter (C31) (Itin + Hoch GmbH, Converter 0.7.3.31).…”

Changes of the Rumination Characteristics in Dairy Cows After Change TMR Composition

“…Cattle spend approximately 8 hours per day ruminating usually, but times up to 12 hours per day are reported (Welch, 1982;Beauchemin, 1991;Albright 1993;Melin et al, 2007;DeVries et al, 2009;Suarez-Mena et al, 2013;Liboreiro et al, 2015). The number of jaw movement during chewing one bolus range from 50-80 usually but depending on feedstuff can vary from 20 to 400 chews (McLeod and Smith, 1989;Melin et al, 2007;Rombach et al, 2018). The times that the bolus is chewed and the number of jaw movement is relatively stable and constant for an individual.…”

“…Frequency of chewing while feeding is more erratic and varies from 10-70 chews per minute, slower is at the beginning and at the end of the ruminating period (Melin et al, 2007). Chewing activity and its automatic monitoring for the dairy cattle management is widely used in recent years (Elischer et al, 2013;Tani et al, 2013;Ambriz-Vilchis et al, 2015;Liboreiro et al, 2015;Pahl et al, 2015;Reiter et al, 2018;Rombach et al, 2018). Because use for management purposes the stability of chewing while the ruminating in cows without changes in health or reproductive status is very important.…”